Chapter 723, Feng Guozhang's activities

Before the early morning of the next day, the northern provinces called the Ai Dian. Feng Guozhang, who was still on the Jinpu Line railway, cried bitterly and repeatedly blamed himself for not being able to see the last side of the President. The old generals from Beiyang from all over the country were deeply saddened and spontaneously organized memorial activities. All the direct guards in Nanyuan, Beijing were dressed in white and mourning, arranged funerals and ceremonies all night, and were determined to send the President to the last journey.

Yuan Shikai's confidants Yang Shiqi, Yang Du and others stayed overnight and stayed in front of the coffin with the Yuan family. Yang Shiqi cried several times even more. After waking up, he knelt down and cried. The mourning sounds from the Presidential Palace's official residence lasted until dawn. Everyone was exhausted, so they were helped by their servants to leave.

Wu Shaoting received a telegram forwarded from Wuhan to Wuzhou at 5 a.m. on August 4. He was woken up from his sleep by his servants. After learning that Yuan Shikai had passed away, he sat on the bed for a while until Zhang Xiaoya was asked by him. He asked Zhang Xiaoya to continue to rest, got up and washed up, and immediately set off for the coalition government, asking the Secretariat to draft a neutral condolence in his personal name, and immediately sent it to Beijing.

Although Yuan Shikai is a person who criticizes many democratic figures, and people like Sun Yat-sen who hate dictatorship and abuse of power will even celebrate it, Wu Shaoting will not do this. In terms of politics and military, he does not mean that he has a personal grudge with Yuan Shikai. Putting aside the identity of both sides, he still admires Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai's failure does not mean that the Beiyang government is evil. On the contrary, it is just that Beiyang's stubborn conservative concepts have been eliminated by the times.

In any case, the Beiyang government was born in a chaotic and complex environment. What Beiyangsu will do is extremely limited, but it cannot be said that they have done nothing. I believe that as long as the Chinese are mediocre, pedantic, and have no ability, they will have a side to think about the country. Even if it is a flash in the pan.

With Yuan Shikai's death, the Beiyang completely fell apart. Duan Qirui alone supported the empty body of the Beiyang government and placed all his hopes on the aid of the Japanese. The provinces in Jiangbei successively reported electricity, and the first move was Shaanxi Province. The governor Chen Shufan announced that Shaanxi was under the jurisdiction of the government and requested the government's appointment document. Later, Li Chun received a secret order from Feng Guozhang in Jiangxi and temporarily ceased the war with the south in the name of Jiangxi **.

Some areas of Kangzang, some areas of ***, Henan and Jiangsu also established contacts with the government. Although they did not announce the government or submit to the south, they still followed Chen Shufan's approach and requested a letter of appointment from the government, which could indirectly indicate the recognition of the status of the government.

Wu Shaoting was very clear about the current situation and must first gain a foothold in momentum and not rush to gather the real power of the northern provinces. He just needs to obtain nominal submission first, and then gradually complete the provincial government reform through the establishment of the central government. After receiving the request message from these places, Wu Shaoting immediately issued a letter of appointment to the government, and then handed it over to the Congress for approval to take effect, and the receipt will be given to the power generation areas.

Faced with the increasing momentum of the government-implementing government, Duan Qirui was very anxious. While urging the Japanese side to obtain loans as soon as possible, he also sent people to contact Zhang Zuolin from the three northeastern provinces to invite Zhang Zuolin to send troops to Zhili and Hebei to jointly defend the central government.

Nowadays, Zhang Zuolin is not the only one in the northeastern provinces, and the Northeast Army is far less than the 300,000 in the future. Zhang Xiluan, the military affairs propaganda envoy of the three northeastern provinces, nominally controlled Jilin, Fengtian and Heilongjiang's highest commander, but in fact, Zhang Xiluan had no intention of politicians, but just led a rank to gain fame. However, Zhang Xiluan still held a military unit in his hand, and in Fengtian, Zhang Zuolin, Jilin, Meng Enyuan, and Heilongjiang, Bi Guifang, stood in four-legged position.

Not only that, Zhang Zuolin was not the only one in Fengtian Province, who was in charge of the overall situation. Feng Delin, the General Office of the Fengtian Military Affairs Office, held the 28th Army Division. The relationship with Zhang Zuolin was broken due to the "Duan Zhigui Incident" before, so the situation was not satisfactory.

Feng Delin, whose original name was Yuqi, also known as Linge, and whose courtesy name was Gechen, was born in Wanlihao, Dalian Village, Wenxiang Township, Haicheng City, Liaoning Province in the seventh year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1868). Feng Delin acted as a yamen runner in the county yard in his early years and was dismissed for dating with Lulin.

After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Boxer Rebellion broke out in 1900. Tsarist Russia took the opportunity to invade northeast of our country. Feng Delin took advantage of the social unrest and bandits rose up to form a "big group" in Gaojiatuozi in the Liaoyang border, claiming to "protect the country and safeguard the people." Because of his resistance to the Russian army, it was very popular with the people, and the team grew from more than a hundred to hundreds, with a huge momentum. It controlled the two sides of the Liao River.

Bi Guifang's troops were guarding North Korea's border defense forces, and Zhang Xiluan and Meng Enyuan's troops were guarding both sides of Manchuria, so the only ones that could be mobilized were Zhang Zuolin and Feng Delin.

Previously, Yuan Shikai mobilized Fengtian's 27th Division as a backup in order to deal with the south. Zhang Zuolin agreed in order to please Yuan Shikai, and even sent a force to station in Shanhaiguan. As the south became more and more powerful, the Beiyang government was losing money. Zhang Zuolin knew very well that with his current strength, not to mention sending troops south, there was a suspense even in his stable Fengtian Province. As soon as the news of Yuan Shikai's death came out, Zhang Zuolin immediately realized that the situation in Beiyang was destined and quickly returned to Shenyang to prepare for power.

When Duan Qirui's telegram was sent to the 27th Division headquarters, Zhang Zuolin almost didn't read it, and directly forwarded it to Feng Delin, hoping to save Feng Delin's 28th Division's expenses from Fengtian.

Although Feng Delin was born in a rash, had a bad personality and a low level of education, he was stubborn to fight against Zhang Zuolin. Zhang Zuolin asked him to go south, but he just kept his troops and stayed in Fengtian's territory. As for the orders of the Beiyang government, it was just a piece of paper now, and even if he couldn't even send military pay, who would obey the orders?

A few days later, Duan Qirui finally waited for the Northeast to reply, but there was no troops to support him, and he couldn't help feeling disappointed. He discussed with Lu Jianzhang and decided to collect a private military expenditure, and to draw back the 2nd Central Division, the 4th Central Division, the 6th Central Division and the 7th Central Division, which were originally planned to attack Mongolia in Shaanxi, Gansu, Rehe, Shanxi and other places. In addition, the 8th Division and the 11th Division in Nanyuan were enough to fight another decisive battle with the South.

Lu Jianzhang was very close to Li Yuanhong during this period and had been planning his own way out. However, Duan Qirui's desperate plan was still possible. It would be good if he could make a situation of placing a river and governing it. It would not be too late to surrender even if it failed. So he immediately agreed to Duan Qirui and then began to organize the "National Saving Security and Security Council" to raise funds from the provinces that had not yet surrendered to the south.

Feng Guozhang arrived in Beijing on August 9th. Before, he stayed in Tianjin for two days and made a special trip to visit another Beiyang veteran Xu Shichang who retreated behind the scenes. Although Xu Shichang was obsessed with the orthodox status of Beiyang, time had passed and even the president had gone to the immortals, and there was no possibility of returning to the world in Beiyang. Feng Guozhang told Xu Shichang the meaning of the south and discussed the feasibility together. Xu Shichang had some concerns before, but after all, he couldn't figure out the details of Wu Shaoting, a young man. Later, Feng Guozhang said that Wu Shaoting had agreed to marry, which shows that he was still sincere, which made Xu Shichang feel at ease.

Xu Shichang and Feng Guozhang agreed to take advantage of the time when they went north to pay tribute to the president, and negotiated with several important Beiyang officials in the capital to jointly negotiate a war and negotiate peace with the south, and began to rectify the gradual reorganization of the Beiyang internal circulation into a political party. Xu Shichang has been sitting in Tianjin for a long time and has long been looking forward to taking the opportunity to come out. Feng Guozhang's arrival this time is a rare opportunity.

As for Duan Qirui's recent actions, the two have been informed, but it is not a big deal. Even if they give Duan Qirui a loan of 10 million, the Beiyang government will definitely not be able to suppress the arrogance of the south. What's more, where can we go to get a loan of 10 million? It is rumored that the agreement reached with the Japanese can obtain aid, and the best possible thing is to rule the river with the south, but who can take the blame for splitting China? Warlords have been separating for so many years, but I haven't heard anyone dare to proclaim themselves kings.

As long as we can win over some old Beiyang people, we can leave Duan Qirui alone to establish a new branch to negotiate peace with the south.

After arriving in the capital, Feng Guozhang sent his adjutant Shi Jingyun to the Presidential Palace to settle for tribute. He and Xu Shichang couldn't wait to visit several old Beiyang people who had long been sick at home, including Liang Shiyi, Lu Zongyu, Wang Shizhen, Li Yuanhong, Zhou Ziqi, Zhou Xuexi and others. Li Yuanhong, Liang Shiyi and others were easily convinced, and they had been waiting for the south to send people to win over him. Conservatives such as Zhou Ziqi and Zhou Xuexi only said that they would follow the trend.

However, Wang Shizhen cursed at Feng Guozhang for a while, denying Feng Guozhang as a traitor in Beiyang.

"How can we Beiyang bow our heads like the south? It doesn't matter if we lose on the battlefield, but we must never lose in integrity. I thought Duan Zhiquan was a hateful speculator, but I didn't expect that you, Feng Huafu, were even more outrageous. You said such treacherous remarks before the president was cold. I can see your virtues clearly. Now I think about it, although Duan Zhiquan is reckless, he has a strong backbone here, so he is not like you! Even if you keep our name as Beiyang, it is still a move to continue the slander."
Chapter completed!